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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29731917">I will never ask if you don't ever tell me</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/2old4dis/pseuds/2old4dis'>2old4dis</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>SK8 the Infinity (Anime)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Gen, M/M, there is SUPER brief Langa/Reki if you squint, this was just self indulgent Hiromi love</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 20:15:57</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,564</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29731917</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/2old4dis/pseuds/2old4dis</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Five times Hiromi supported his friends, and one time they supported him.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hasegawa Langa/Kyan Reki, Hiromi Higa/manager</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>92</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>I will never ask if you don't ever tell me</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Soooo this is mainly self indulgent, because my DARLING angel Hiromi Higa doesn't get the love he deserves. Please excuse the difference in the types of prose happening here. I was either super sober, or super drunk writing this.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>In the past, it was rare for Hiromi Higa’s daily routine to deviate much.  He woke up, went to work, went to the gym, and went home to pass time doing various hobbies until S opened and he could don the persona of Shadow. Precedently, the lives of Hiromi and Shadow had almost nothing in common, other than being the same person, of course, but as of late, the venn diagram of their lives had more overlap than not. Since his first appearance, Shadow terrorized the citizens of S to his heart's content, with not much consequence aside from the occasional lost beef, but, for the first time ever, not only did Shadow come home to Hiromi’s peacefully decorated apartment, the idiots that latched on to Shadow dragged his rocker persona to Hiromi’s job as well. </p><p>	The whole thing was rather stupid. It began with Reki, who, after riding along with Shadow during Langa and Miya’s beef, saw the poorly concealed company logo and decided to just show up, bringing along his lackeys. This happened once, then twice, and then became such a regular occurrence that Hiromi’s (kind and gentle) manager knew the kids well enough to not only greet them by name, but to declare Hiromi as some sort of de facto guardian. Miya even chose to not home after school, instead using the shop as an after school day care before catching a ride to S. It was a rather jarring change for someone as punctual and put together as Hiromi, but eventually the antics of the teenage boys faded into a bizarre normalcy that included late nights, fast food, and ER trips that Hiromi was obviously the assigned chaperone for. His (practical) manager would have it no other way. </p><p> </p><p>**********************************************************************************************************</p><p> </p><p>	The flower shop ended up closing a little later than usual, leaving Hiromi absolutely famished. He’d decided in the middle of his shift to get dinner at Joe’s restaurant, since it had been a while since he last ate there, but due to the hour, the restaurant was beyond packed. Instead of having open seats, all the tables were full of patrons, leaving Hiromi to uncomfortably shuffle his feet while he decided if he was going to wait for a table to open up or if he should find somewhere else to eat. The sound of his stomach gurgling caused him to grimace and he scanned the room again, hoping someone was ready to leave, when a flash of pink caught his eye. </p><p>	Sitting at the well lit bar was Cherry. In his hand was a fluted glass of a pale wine and he was picking away a plate of some sort of porridge type rice dish. Trying to exude more confidence than he had in his famished body, Hiromi walked over.</p><p>	“Hi,” he said, awkwardly. Cherry looked up, squinting slightly before recognizing him. </p><p>	“Shadow?”</p><p>	“Haha, yeah. Sorry, I don’t know-”</p><p>	“It’s Kaoru,” Cherry interjected before taking a sip of his drink, long fingers caressing the glass of wine. He looked like something out of time, a sage monk of some sort from a feudal era long past. Hiromi realized he was staring, waiting for an answer to a question he never asked.</p><p>	“Right. Sorry. I’m Hiromi.”</p><p>	“Hiromi,” Kaoru repeated, sipping at his flute of wine again. He gestured with the glass before asking “Were you planning on just standing there or did you want to sit?”</p><p>	Hiromi pulled the chair out and sat down before Kaoru could change his mind, finicky as it could be. At least, Cherry Blossom’s mind could be. If Cherry was as different from Kaoru as Shadow was from Hiromi, the pink haired man sitting to his right was damn near a stranger. It was kind of a wild thought, since in the past month Cherry not only was at S more often than he’d been in the past, but due to Cherry’s acquaintanceship with Reki, spent a lot of time in Shadow’s close proximity as well. Hiromi opened his menu up, pondering this, his dark eyes quickly taking in the list of foreign food and quickly felt overwhelmed. What the hell was ‘ribolleta’? His panic must have shown because it was quickly interrupted by a gentle tap on the wrist, followed by a cough. </p><p>	“Try the risotto.”</p><p>	Hiromi looked up, blinking stupidly. “Huh?”</p><p>	“The risotto.” Kaoru gestured at the dish in front of him. “It’s rice but it’s cooked with butter and white wine. It’s so simple that even an APE” he gestured in the vague direction of the kitchen “an absolute NEANDERTHAL couldn’t mess it up. I have of course had better, but this is fine.”</p><p>	“Uh, ok?” </p><p>	Kaoru waved the waitress down with practiced efficiency and took the liberty of ordering the food and also a glass of white wine for Hiromi. After the waitress left, they sat in a comfortable silence, interrupted only by a bartender bringing by the glass of wine. It was nice, although a little dry for his taste, but Kaoru was drinking the same thing and Hiromi didn't want to look uncivilized. </p><p>	The food arrived shortly after he finished his glass of wine, which caused the waitress to hastily bring him a second glass for his meal. He swished it around, staring down the unfamiliar cuisine. In the risotto, there were large pieces of mushroom floating around and it was garnished with some rather fragrant basil. Hiromi took a tentative bite. It was absolutely delicious. He side eyed Kaoru, wondering if this actually was mediocre, or if Kaoru was just a dick and didn’t want to endorse Joe’s cooking any more than he absolutely had to. Probably the latter, honestly. Unsure if Kaoru wanted company or not, Hiromi decided to try socializing anyway. After the day he had, conversing with someone closer to his own age than 90 would be nice.</p><p>	“Is it me or are the movies coming out recently un-original as hell?”</p><p>	It was  Kaoru’s turn to be surprised. “Pardon?”</p><p>	“The movies. Everything is either a sequel or a remake. It’s like Hollywood ran out of ideas.” He chewed thoughtfully at a mushroom. “ The last movie I even saw in theaters was so disappointing I haven’t had the energy to try to see anything else.”</p><p>	Kaoru gazed at him, sniffed, and apparently that’s all it took to start a conversation, since he launched into what one could call a tirade. “It’s because no one respects the arts anymore. Just like calligraphy, filmmaking is a dying art form. No one cares anymore about making movies. They only care about the money. I, personally, only watch movies made by independent studios. At least they aren’t afraid to push the envelope, so to speak.”</p><p>	He continued on, moving from the subject of film making to the predictable nature of technology itself, allowing Hiromi to scarf down the food on his plate, and finish his second glass of wine without supplying more to the conversation than the occasional sound of agreeance. Somehow during his rant, Kaoru managed to finish his meal, delicately, the actual antithesis of whatever Hiromi was doing. Suddenly self conscious, Hiromi patted gently at his mouth with his napkin and waved the waitress down for the check, just as Kaoru got up to leave. </p><p>	“This has been nice,” Kaoru began, snapping open his fan. “It’s not often I can enjoy the company of someone who doesn’t feel the need to fill every second with endless chatter. Will I be seeing you at S tonight?”</p><p>	“For a little bit. I have some new things I want to try out. To make my turns smoother.”</p><p>	“Hmm. Well then, I will see you there. Hiromi.” He sashayed away a couple steps before turning back. “Also, if you’d like, I come here most often on Thursdays. I wouldn’t mind hanging out again.” </p><p>	Hiromi hadn’t realized they were hanging out at all, so he just gave an awkward smile that the pink haired man mirrored. What the hell. It wasn’t like he had regular Thursday plans after all. </p><p> </p><p>**********************************************************************************************************</p><p> </p><p>	The gym often offered Hiromi solace after a long, and regularly frustrating, day of work. There was something about taking out the days frustrations on a bag that even a good beef at S couldn’t satisfy. Plus the gym had a sauna. Hiromi practically jogged inside, excited to earn himself a good long sit in it. He quickly changed and prepared for his work out by warming up on the treadmill. Breathing in synch with his jogging, Hiromi almost didn’t notice that someone joined in on the treadmill next to him. He whipped his head to the side, furrowing his brows in confusion. </p><p>	“Joe?”</p><p>	“‘Ello.” The muscular man set the pace of the machine to a brisk, faster pace than Hiromi’s, which was slightly insulting, but Hiromi didn’t want to draw attention to it by setting his higher. Joe started his run and the pair ran in tandem, silently, for several minutes before Joe did a double take, yanking out his earbuds.</p><p>	“Shadow?”</p><p>	“It’s just plain ol’ Hiromi right now.”</p><p>	“Well, then Hiromi. What’s your routine? Do you weight train? Cardio?”</p><p>	“Just some light weight training. Gotta stay fit, you know.”</p><p>	“Gotta stay jacked for the ladies,” Joe said, winking. “I get it. Me too.”</p><p>	Hiromi was embarrassed to be slightly out of breath, so he just grunted in agreeance.  He didn't want Joe to know. Joe put his ear buds back in and turned up the speed on the treadmill. Instead of rising to the challenge, Hiromi chose to finish his warm up jog and move over to the weights. He chose the bench furthest from the large mirror and started doing bicep curls. </p><p>	Joe sauntered over and posted up on the bench next to the one occupied by Hiromi. “Nice form, bud.”</p><p>	“Thanks.”</p><p>	“I can show you another way to build muscle, if you want.”</p><p>	Hiromi raised an eyebrow. “Oh yeah?”</p><p>	That’s how he found himself working out side by side with Joe, of all people. The man was right. He was full of exercises that worked out parts of Hiromi’s body that he didn’t even know he had. Very quickly, Hiromi’s shirt ended up drenched in sweat. Despite the difficulty of the work out, he enjoyed it quite a bit. His routine was mundane and unchanging. It was one he found online that worked, but the change in pace was very welcome. He finished the last rep of some weighted lunges and grinned, giving Joe a high five. </p><p>	Together they walked over to the spot by the mirrors where they’d ditched their water bottles. Hiromi took a long pull, savoring the crisp, cold water. His legs and arms felt weak with exertion. Joe seemed unphased, albeit he was a little sweatier than usual. He looked around the gym while Hiromi caught his breath and winked in the direction of a woman on the elliptical. She giggled and blushed when he waved. </p><p>	How does he do that?</p><p>	“Do what? Flirt with girls?”</p><p>	Hiromi blushed, embarrassed that he spoke his thoughts out loud. “I just get nervous and it shows, I guess.”</p><p>	“Don’t you hook up with people at S sometimes?”</p><p>	“No. Shadow does. Shadow is edgy and cool and confident. Hiromi is a nervous dweeb.” He sat down, sighing deeply. </p><p>	Joe squatted down to join him. “I don’t really know how to tell you this, but YOU are Shadow.”</p><p>	“I know?” Maybe Joe was more affected by their work out than Hiromi originally thought. </p><p>	“No, I mean, the confidence Shadow has? That’s you, bro. So do whatever it is you do at S.”</p><p>	Hiromi pondered that. “Can I ask you something?”</p><p>	“Sure, go ahead.” Joe took a big swig of his water. </p><p>	“What do you do if you like someone a lot? How do you tell them?”</p><p>	Joe stared at him, a serious expression on his face. “You just do. Just tell them.”</p><p>	“The manager at my job-”</p><p>	“Hi! I saw you looking and I had to come over and say hello!” The brunette from the elliptical skipped over, interrupting the conversation. She smiled widely down at Joe, who flashed his teeth at her in a reciprocating grin. He stood up in one fluid movement and thrust his hand out.<br/>
“Kojiro! And you are?”</p><p>	She giggled and gave her name but Hiromi was no longer listening. He said his goodbyes to Joe and left the gym floor, in favor of sitting in the sauna. There was a lot on his mind and nothing could help soothe that than a good long sit in the hot room. That and his muscles were so extremely sore. </p><p> </p><p>**********************************************************************************************************</p><p> </p><p>“I hate to ask this of you but, before you go, would you mind taking Mrs.Tadashi’s delivery on your way out?” his (lovely and soft spoken) manager called out from the main sales floor. Hiromi sighed, untying his apron, before clocking out. </p><p>It had been a long day. Mrs.Tadashi came in sometime around noon asking for a near impossible order of several large centerpieces for her and her husband's anniversary that night. Hiromi and his manager both paused their projects to quickly throw together acceptable arrangements, on top of finishing the other projects they had. A part of him wanted to say no, already exhausted of the old bat and her stupid flowers, but Hiromi could never deny his manager anything. Sighing again, he picked up the boxes stacked by the door leading out to the sales floor. </p><p>	“Of course! I’ll load it up right now!” he said, cheerful voice masking his disappointment as he stepped back out onto the sales floor. From behind the cash register, she beamed at him. </p><p>	“Thanks! You’re an angel! Drive safe!”</p><p>	I’m an angel!</p><p>	Ignoring the pounding of his heart, Hiromi smiled back at her before using his back to open up the glass door of the shop. After the flowers were gently loaded into the van, he waved to his manager and drove off. He quickly arrived at the destination and dropped the flowers off to a petite, scowling old woman. With the help of her grandson, he unloaded the flowers, assuring her that the order was indeed there, and no, marigolds and carnations were not the same thing. They triple checked her order before Mrs.Tadashi was satisfied, and Hiromi was finally free. Taking a moment to calm down, he started his car and pulled away from the curb in a significantly better mood. </p><p>	Driving around was usually something that calmed him, no matter how agitated he was, so Hiromi chose to take the long way home. Tapping the steering wheel along to the music blaring from the speakers, he admired the ocean view and debated grabbing something to eat before returning to his apartment. As if on cue, his stomach gurgled, deciding for him. </p><p>	The tires made a slight squeaking sound on the pavement as the car rolled to a stop in front of McDonald’s. He climbed out of the small, pink car when he spotted Langa in the parking lot, on his skateboard trying to do… something. The Canadian boy was hopping his board and kicking his legs before failing to land. Repeatedly. After watching Langa fall for the fourth time, Hiromi cursed and walked over. </p><p>	“Oh, hi Shadow,” Langa said cheerfully from where he sat on the ground. “I’m trying to learn a heelflip.” </p><p>	“How’s that going for you?” Hiromi asked, snorting. </p><p>Langa merely got up and stood on his board again. With another aggressive flail of his leg, the board shot out from under his feet and he landed on his ass with a heavy thud. Hiromi felt his eye twitch. The board that Langa was using, Hiromi noticed, was not the regular one that he skated on at S. It didn’t have the toe clip that usually held the kid’s foot. Almost robotically, the kid stood back up and got back on the board. Before he could fall, yet again, Hiromi cleared his throat and spoke up.</p><p>	“Your feet are wrong.”</p><p>	Big blue eyes met his own dark ones. “What do you mean?”</p><p>	Hiromi gestured down and Langa stepped off the board, rolling it to the older man. “When you did it, your front foot was too far forward. You don’t have enough room to slide it forward and kick it into a spin.” </p><p>	He hopped on and started into a gentle roll before jumping and nudging the board into an easy heelflip. Langa’s already wide eyes widened even further. </p><p>	“Wow! You made it look so easy! How did you learn how to do that?”</p><p>	“Uh… I ate shit a lot but got up until I figured it out I guess? Anyway, try again, but with your foot more towards the middle.”</p><p>	Langa nodded. He stood up on the board, adjusted his feet, before looking onto Hiromi. There was a beat before Hiromi realized the kid was looking for approval. From him, of all people. Without thinking, he nodded and Langa grinned broadly. The wheels of the board clattered as it moved forward and suddenly became airborne. It spun, flashing its blue underside once and Langa landed crookedly, and fell off, tumbling onto the hot asphalt. Hiromi flinched and opened his mouth to console the boy but was interrupted by Langa gasping. </p><p>	“That was AWESOME! Did you see that, old man Shadow? I did it!” He whooped again and jumped back on the board, completely ignoring Hiromi’s protests that he actually didn’t do it at all because landing is still important. Langa flipped it one more time, still unable to quite land it, but this time at least didn’t fall completely down, instead just stumbling off the board and catching himself before hitting the ground. </p><p>	Despite pretending to look gruff, Hiromi felt his mouth twisting into a smile. Even though it was over a decade ago (at that, he shuddered) that he first learned these beginner moves, there was something so infectious watching Langa gleefully attempt a basic heelflip over and over again. Half a dozen more times, progressively better, he finally landed just right, coasting the board into a wide arc before returning to the spot where Hiromi stood on the curb. </p><p>	“You’re actually a good teacher, Shadow,” Langa said, eyes twinkling as he rolled by. </p><p>	Embarrassed, Hiromi rubbed at the back of his neck. “Nah. You almost had it. It was just your feet.”</p><p>	“Yeah but it still helped a lot,” Langa said, trying his new trick yet again. He leapt into the air, the board turning quickly before crashing back to the ground, feet firmly stuck to the black griptape. Again, he skated in a wide arc before returning to Hiromi, this time stopping and stepping off the board. </p><p>	Unable to stop himself Hiromi blurted out “Do you want a hamburger?”</p><p>	Langa looked surprised. “Really?”</p><p>	“Dude you landed your first kickflip. That’s something we have to celebrate.”</p><p>	“Ok!” Langa opened up the back seat of the pink van, slid the board across the back seat before Hiromi could protest, and lead the way into McDonald’s.</p><p>	Shaking his head, Hiromi followed. </p><p> </p><p>**********************************************************************************************************</p><p>	If Miya wasn’t there, lurking in the back of the flower shop, it was most likely Reki barging in. At least he had the sense to wait until customers left before harassing Hiromi with whatever foolish scheme or idea he had up his sleeve currently, so when Reki came crashing through the store and interrupted a transaction, Hiromi had the right to be cranky. He snatched the teen by the arm and dragged him into the back room after politely excusing himself and apologizing to the kind, old woman looking for a bouquet for her daughter in law.</p><p>“What the fuck do you want?” Hiromi hissed, whipping Reki into the back room by his twiggy arm. “Don’t you have somewhere to be?”</p><p>“I just wanted you to see the new board I’m working on!” Reki protested, rubbing at his bicep. “Ow, that hurt…”</p><p>“You can’t just show up like this at my job!”</p><p>Reki huffed, shaking off the bag haphazardly slug over his shoulder. “I need someone to try to skate on this.”</p><p>“Why not ask Lan-” Hiromi cut himself off. The two stared each other down and he immediately felt guilty. “Shit. Sorry.”</p><p> Reki looked hurt. It was no secret that the boys hadn’t spoken to each other for several days, but only Reki and Langa knew why. It made skating at S kind of awkward. The divide caused the group to take turns skating with each of the boys, to make sure neither thought sides were being taken. </p><p>“It’s fine,” Reki muttered. The silence hung heavy between them. Hiromi sighed, giving in. </p><p>“I’ll do it. Just… I need to finish out my shift. Go do something else for an hour.”</p><p>Reki brightened back up. “Meet me at the park when you’re done! Later, old man!”</p><p>“I’m not old!”</p><p>The rest of Hiromi’s shift passed by rather quickly. After he finished with the customer, only one other one came in, allowing him time to finish up pulling dead flowers and making clearance bouquets for the next day. His (thoughtful) manager already had so much to do when opening the store; he didn’t want to make more work for her. The floors were meticulously swept  and counters wiped down, all the wrapping supplies restocked. He didn’t leave until the store was spotless. </p><p>As promised, Reki was at the park, zooming up and down the sides of the half pipe. He spotted Hiromi’s pink car pull up and jumped off the board, jogging over to greet the older man, leaving his board sitting in the middle of the concrete. Hiromi could see the knees of his jeans were scraped up, small bits of bitumen still clinging to the fresh wounds and threads hanging there. </p><p>“Hey, old man!”</p><p>Hiromi ignored him, getting out of the car. He’d taken the time to don his Shadow persona, knowing that after whatever this was, Reki would probably convince him to drive them out to Crazy Rock. It had become an integral part of his daily schedule by now. The white paint itched a little since it hadn’t set yet but he ignored the urge to scratch at it, grabbing his board out of the back seat. </p><p>Reki led Hiromi over to the half pipe. “I modified the wheels a little bit, so I wanted to see someone skate on it. It’s different than doing it myself.”</p><p>Hiromi grunted in confirmation and took off. The wheels seemed kind of stiff and it was difficult to even attempt something as basic as an ollie.</p><p>“It feels like skating on carpet, Reki.”</p><p>“It’s supposed to be better for cruising. A client requested it but I wasn’t sure about the wheels he wanted. I’ve never used this brand before.” Reki gestured down at the board.</p><p>“Well, I hate them. Is this for skating at Crazy Rock? Because they’re going to get destroyed in their first beef using this board.”</p><p>“I think that’s the plan? If so it’s not a good one, but I don’t care. I tried talking him out of  it. Try grinding that rail with the board.”</p><p>“Fuck no! I can’t even get the board up to kick flip.” He attempted another feeble ollie. </p><p>“Who cares. Get your board. Let’s skate for real!”</p><p>The pair ended up passing time until the sun set by setting up challenges for each other to attempt and it felt like for the first time days, Reki seemed to be genuinely enjoying himself. Hiromi swung his board around cutting Reki off with a whoop and skated ahead, jumping the board over a park bench. The sound of wheels clattering on the concrete was punctuated by the sound of their laughter. Reki’s stomach growled and Shadow bailed, catching his board in his hand. </p><p>“Wanna grab burgers?” he asked.</p><p>“Sure!”</p><p>Without invitation, Reki climbed into the front seat of the car. He plugged his phone into the auxiliary cord and the radio started blasting some old pop punk anthem. At least Reki had better taste in music than the other kids. Hiromi pulled out of the driveway singing along quietly. The drive to McDonald’s wasn’t very long at all. </p><p>Reki found them a booth while Hiromi ordered their usuals and paid. The booth Reki chose was tucked in the side of the restaurant, giving them a decent vantage point of the rest of the patrons and the glass wall of the front of the store. It was strange, bonding with Reki without Langa in tow, but Hiromi knew that if Reki wanted to talk about it, he would. Without being asked, Reki stood and gathered the trash.</p><p>“You ready to go, Shadow?”</p><p>Hiromi stood. “Yeah let’s go.”</p><p>They loaded back up in the car and he allowed Reki to choose the music again (this time Taking Back Sunday’s Tell All Your Friends.) Hiromi started following the familiar roads up to Crazy Rock when Reki suddenly spoke up. </p><p>“Turn left.”</p><p>“Left? That’s not how you get there.”</p><p>“No. It’s how you get home. Like to my house.”</p><p>Hiromi turned the music down. “What do you mean?” </p><p>“I mean I want to go home, Hiromi.”</p><p>Neither spoke again until the pink car pulled up in front of Reki’s home. </p><p>“I just. I don’t want to go to S right now.”</p><p>“Hey I get it. You’re not ready.”</p><p>Reki sniffed. “Do you think he misses me?”</p><p>“Reki,” Hiromi said, trying to be as honest as possible without betraying anyone elses trust. “He never stops asking about you.”</p><p>Reki nodded and both of them pretended to not see that he was crying. He got out of the car and slammed the door behind him. Hiromi drove home in silence. </p><p> </p><p>*********************************************************************************************************</p><p> </p><p>	“Hiromi! One of your friends is here!”</p><p>	“Oh my fucking God, again?” he muttered under his breath, stabbing a daisy into the arrangement in front of him with unnecessary aggression. “Uh, please just send him back here! Thank you!”</p><p>	There was a brief conversation, a little too quiet for him to hear, punctuated by his (enchanting and witty) manager laughing. Small footsteps preceded Miya darkening the open doorway, cat ears casting a bizarre shadow on the floor of the back room. Hiromi groaned, causing Miya to let out a laugh. He sauntered into the backroom of the shop and slung his back pack over the chair that Hiromi’s manager had set aside specifically for when Miya came by. </p><p>	“You really need to find a new place to hang out after school,” he grumbled into the baby’s breath he was currently coaxing into a birthday bouquet. </p><p>	Miya scowled before resuming pulling out his schoolbooks and slamming them obnoxiously onto the table before throwing them open . “Shut up, old man.”</p><p>	Hiromi mirrored Miya’s scowl before the younger boy looked away, burying himself in that day’s algebra homework. For almost an hour, they worked in silence, punctuated by the dry sound of writing on paper and the rustling of foliage being wrapped when Hiromi finished one bouquet and moved onto the next. At the sight of the next round of flowers, Miya sniffed, loudly, and Hiromi sat up and turned around. </p><p>	“You know, if you’re allergic, like you always complain about, you could just go somewhere else.” </p><p>	“I don’t want to,” Miya snapped, eyes narrowing. He scribbled viciously on the paper before looking up. “I need to do my homework and this is a quiet place to do it.”</p><p>	“You could do it, I don’t know? At home?” </p><p>	“I. Don’t. Want. To.” Each word was punctuated by the sound of aggressive writing.</p><p>	“Whatever.” They fell back into silence, until, finished with the second bouquet, Hiromi stood, cracked his neck, and put the vase of flowers into the walk-in fridge. When he returned, Miya looked up and suddenly spoke.</p><p>	“Do the other guys invite you to skate with them?”</p><p>	The question took him by surprise.</p><p>	“What are you talking about?”</p><p>	“Reki and Langa. Do they ask you to go skate with them?” Miyo turned in his chair completely, to better face Hiromi.</p><p>	“No, not really. But we have a pretty big age difference, so I don’t see why they would.”</p><p>	Miya sniffed, again. “Oh.”</p><p>	Uncomfortable, Hiromi shuffled his feet before sitting down across from the small boy, unsure of how to proceed. Miya pointedly avoided eye contact and scribbled some answers into his notebook. He awkwardly flipped the page forward and back before speaking up again. </p><p>	“Sometimes, I wish they would hang out with me more.”</p><p>	Ah. There it is. </p><p>	“Miya,” Hiromi began. He paused to collect his thoughts before continuing. Miya blinked. “It’s not that they don’t like you. I just think that they’re closer in age so they have more in common with each other.”</p><p>	“So?”</p><p>	“So they are in the same class and they work together. They just spend a lot of time together, so naturally they’re best friends. And best friends just sort of end up gravitating to each other.” Not to mention, he thought the two teens were dating, but he wasn’t going to just say that out loud in case he was wrong.</p><p>	Miya’s brow furrowed as the thought. “I guess you’re right. It just sucks. I don’t have a lot of friends my age, you know. Do you?”</p><p>	Hiromi barked out a laugh. </p><p>“No but I’m pretty introverted. It doesn’t affect me much.” He thought for a second at the recent changes in his life. “I mean, sometimes I go to the gym with Joe. And I saw a movie with Kaoru, once. But that all pretty recent. Anyway, are you done? I’m about to clock out, so I’m taking you home.”</p><p>“Go ahead and clock out. I’ll just wait out by the car,” Miya mumbled, stuffing his papers back into the folder. Out from the sales floor Miya said goodbye and the door bells clanged as the door opened and closed. Hiromi quickly clocked out and followed. He made it all the way out to the car before his (compassionate) manager came running out. </p><p>“Hiromi! You forgot your wallet,” she said, breathlessly, holding it out for him. He felt his ears burn. </p><p>“Thanks a lot. I’ll see you tomorrow?”</p><p>“Of course!” She smiled brightly before turning and heading back inside to finish closing duties. Hiromi clicked the key fob, unlocking the doors of the car before gesturing to Miya.</p><p>“Get in. Let’s go.”</p><p>In the car, Miya fiddled with the stereo before settling on some local pop station so he could sing along to whatever single was currently playing. He’d long lost the rights to the aux cord, ever since that stupid fortnite song came out. Street lights passed by, illuminated his face, casting a yellowish glow to his cat like eyes. The song ended and Miya shifted in the seat, turning to face the driver’s seat and turned down the radio. </p><p>“It’s weird hearing her call you Hiromi.”</p><p>	“I mean? That’s my name. I don’t know why she’d call me anything else.”</p><p>	“We’re just used to hearing Shadow, “ Miya giggled. “It’s weird when it’s anything else! Did you want us to call you Hiromi too?”</p><p>	This time it was Hiromi’s turn to laugh. “I don’t care what you call me. Just knock it off with the ‘old man’ stuff. I’m not that old!”</p><p>	“What. Ever. Turn here.” Car headlights illuminated the hedges that followed the property line of Miya’s parents house. The pink car rolled to a stop, but Miya didn’t immediately jump out like he usually did. </p><p>	“Old man Shadow?”</p><p>	“What the fuck did I just say?”</p><p>	“I’m sorry that I’m such a brat sometimes.”</p><p>	This was a surprise. Before Hiromi could say anything, Miya unbuckled himself and climbed out, but turned around and kicked at the tire of the car. </p><p>	“I’ll see you tomorrow, right? Like, I can still come by at the shop and do my homework? You don’t actually want me to stop coming, do you?” </p><p>	Even in the low light, the fear of exclusion was evident in the young boys usual snobbish expression. Hiromi fidgeted with the steering wheel. Technically, his (beautiful and flawless) manager didn’t care if the boy came by. She’d once gone as far as buying all three of them dinner once, after a couple orders had them staying late. And it wasn’t like Miya ever actually kept Hiromi from doing his job. </p><p>	“No. No, I really don’t care if you come by.”</p><p>	Miya’s face illuminated into a bright smile. Something in his backpack clattered as he yanked it from the front seat and tossed it over his shoulder, calling out as he walked away. “Good. I would have come by anyway. Bye, old man!”</p><p>	“Stupid kid,” Hiromi muttered to himself, smiling. He pulled out of the driveway before realizing he never changed the radio station, but for some reason didn’t mind much. </p><p>**********************************************************************************************************<br/>
The thrill of skating down the hills of Crazy Rock never got old. Shadow knew every single twist, but there was still the excitement of new skaters. He coasted through another turn, keeping Joe’s broad shoulders in his sight. Up ahead was a sort of mound he could use to catch enough air to get ahead of Joe. He bent his knees in anticipation. There was a lot at stake with this particular beef. </p><p>	Earlier that evening, while the group dined at Joe’s restaurant, they all wagered harmless bets on a group beef. If Joe didn’t win, he had to wear a shirt buttoned up to his throat for a whole week. Cherry had to refrain from using Carla, and Reki and Langa had to actually go to class. Miya had to let everyone take turns dressing him. And Shadow. </p><p>	Shadow had to ask out his manager.</p><p>	His hands sweated inside his gloves, thinking about how that would go. He had to win. Of course, Hiromi stayed up late dreaming about confessing to her, how he would do it, what it would be like, but that didn’t mean he was at all ready to actually do something like this. He kicked his board into another jump, quickly gaining on Joe. There was only one person ahead of Joe and that was Langa. Shadow swore under his breath, and swerved to dodge a rock. That could have cost him his race. </p><p>	The old mining factory was coming ahead, and in there, Shadow knew he would have a decent amount of opportunities to overtake Langa’s lead. The boy had greatly improved and shockingly had turned into a skating prodigy, but Shadow was a regular at Crazy Rock. Talented or not, Langa didn’t have the experience that Shadow did. Hopefully it was enough to grant him the lead. He swerved again, dodging another skater and managed to pull up next to Joe. </p><p>	“The way you’re skating, it almost seems like you don’t want to ask out that lovely lady you work with,” Joe laughed. “Maybe I’ll ask her out instead.”</p><p>	“Shut up,” Shadow snarled. “I just don’t want to lose to Langa again.”</p><p>	Joe winked. “Whatever you say, Shadow.”</p><p>	Impulsively, Shadow pushed Joe, causing the man to swerve and lose control of his board. Without looking back, Shadow left Joe in the dust. Internally, he cringed. Actual physical sabotage was more of an ADAM thing to do, but this was an emergency. Losing was not an option. </p><p>	He leaned far to the right,using his hand to stabilize himself, and caught sight of Langa, far ahead of him. Langa had to be skating at dangerous speeds, barely making the turns. Despite his desperation, Shadow couldn’t keep up with that. Panic caused his chest to tighten. </p><p>	The change in texture from concrete to the grated floors of the mining factory startled him, almost enough to lose control but he caught himself quickly enough. Langa had a big enough lead Hiromi started doubting he was going to be able to catch up. Dismay curdled his stomach as Langa cleared one of the final jumps and slid over the finish line, a scarce 3 seconds before he did. Shadow felt nauseous. He lost. </p><p>	Instead of cheering Langa’s victory with everyone else, Shadow trudged his way back up the hill alone, to sit in his car. This was the worst thing to ever happen to him. This was literally worse than the time he hooked up with one of the local Crazy Rock groupies and she stole his beloved pink princess philodendron plant. He must have dozed off or something because the sound of the car door closing behind Miya jarred him awake. </p><p>	“What the Hell are you doing?” he hissed, annoyed that his one man pity party was being interrupted by Reki rifling through the glove compartment. </p><p>	“OH MY GOD ARE THESE CONDOMS!?” Reki gasped, holding up an open, black box of foils. “WHY DO YOU HAVE CONDOMS IN THE CAR!?”</p><p>	Hiromi’s face burned in embarrassment and anger. “Put those back! Stop going through my stuff!”</p><p>	“WHY DO YOU HAVE THEM THOUGH?”</p><p>	“They’re for his... “ Langa looked around before whispering “Peebis.”</p><p>	All eyes turned toward Miya, who was buckling himself up with. “I know what a penis is. And I know what condoms are for.” He fixed his cat green eyes on Hiromi. “We need rides home.”</p><p>	Pissed at the kids, despite none of it being their fault, Hiromi refused to let anyone have control of the music.If he had to sulk and suffer so did they. The kids got out wordlessly at their individual stops, quickly waving goodbye to each other and snickering at their disgruntled chauffeur. In silence, he pulled up in front of his apartment complex and ran his hands down his face, completely forgetting about his makeup. </p><p>	“Fantastic,” he muttered, wiping his greasy hands on his car seat. Yet another thing to be pissed off about. Choosing to leave his board and equipment in the car, Hiromi stomped his way upstairs. He removed the rest of his makeup, and peeled off the sweaty costume that made up Shadow’s identity. Skin pink from being scrubbed raw, Hiromi’s reflection stared back at him. There was no point continuing his tantrum. A beef was a beef and penance was to be paid. He closed his eyes attempting to find some sort of peace. </p><p>	Of course if he talked to them, they knew him well enough that they would most likely find something different for him to do but Hiromi was tired of being the sensitive coward, not that everyone was particularly privy to that side of him. But when he thought about it, he realized the bet wasn’t made with malicious intent. The three younger boys definitely knew about his feelings toward his manager, and he’d mentioned it to Joe, who was a notorious gossip, which mean that Cherry also had to be aware. </p><p>	What would Cherry do? He’d find some absolutely charming way to tell her how he felt. Joe? Similar, but significantly less charming. The kids were useless since they were kids. But Hiromi? What was Hiromi going to do? He finally drifted off into a restless sleep. </p><p>	The next morning when he arrived at work, his (gorgeous, flawless, PERFECT) manager already had most of the opening paperwork done. She beamed at him before greeting him. HIromi took a deep breath. This was it. </p><p>	“M-manager?”</p><p>	“Hm?” she looked up curiously. </p><p>	“I need to tell you something.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>The ribollita on Joe’s menu is a type of hearty Tuscan soup that’s thickened with bread instead of meat. Joe’s, specifically, is a really nice soup that uses the restaurant’s leftover bruschetta bread cooked in a hearty mixture of cannellini beans and whatever vegetables he can locally source.)</p><p>The song Reki plays in the car is All Time Low’s Dear Maria Count Me In. In case you were wondering. He doesn’t really know the words, but he DOES know the cough. </p><p>Pink Princess Philodendron, for those of you who don’t know, are rare. They’re cute and really expensive and tbh if a booty call stole any of my plants I would cry. (Which Hiromi 100% did)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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